The fallacy of this article's argument is that data isn't "truly open"
until the Government builds or implements interfaces, applications & tools
to make the data more accessible to non-technical audiences. The whole point of
open data is to enable Government as a Platform for others to build upon, where
the Government does the least possible to get the data out into the open, so
that _others_, not Government, can then build visualizations, applications,
mashups, etc.
The key to getting more citizen-ready applications & visualizations is
fostering community development, working in tandem with the local open data
& open gov advocates to scale through others. There's nothing wrong with
citizens relying on web-savvy developers to build apps, that's how it's done for
thousands of "non-opendata" apps that we use every day on the web, mobile,
desktop. The point is that our governments need to build competencies in
harnessing the skills & knowledge of communities to take that open data from
raw form to a citizen-ready app.
City of Toronto has a great strategy in pushing to make open data as part
of each department's workflow; it's visionary in that this is a cultural shift
and not a point-in-time activity. But as with any initiative that's pushing the
cultural, process & technology boundaries, there are cost/benefit and
immediacy/relevancy trade-offs. In case of open data, as long as the data is as
close to the source, original dataset, there's nothing wrong in getting it out
in a machine-readable format under an open license sooner rather than later. By
the way, Toronto's catalogue file formats aren't that drastically different from
any other catalogue, providing your usual CSV, XML, XLS formats that are
"spreadsheet-ready". If it's the geographic formats that _seems_ to be "user
unfriendly" (ESRI Shapefile vs. the commonly-used KML), there are also
relatively simple ways to convert those GIS formats without having to sacrifice
staying close to the original data formats used by the city.
Open, Rinse, Repeat is the recipe for success, not Wait Till it's Perfect
& Pretty, but Outdated.
I'll take open data SOONER rather than later, ANY format rather than no
format, and NOT having to wait months or years till it's "perfect", but meets
everyone's requirements according to everyone's technical comfort level.
Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2011 9:22 AM
Subject: [CivicAccess-discuss] Toronto Sun: Toronto’s data open but
almost useless
Toronto’s
data open but almost useless
http://www.torontosun.com/2011/07/06/torontos-data-open-but-almost-uselessThis
is the first news article I have seen in Canada to date that questions data
access for citizens not just designer/developer/academic community:
“Right now, the primary audience is the local
designer/developer/academic community,” Garner says. “However, we have plans
to build it out and position it more clearly within the context of Open
Government in a way which would have more tangible benefits for a wider
audience.”
It’s time for those plans to become action. As long as citizens
have to rely on web-savvy developers to do the hard work for them, the data
isn’t truly open.
However, I am not sure which format the article's author wants the data in,
xls is probably the lowest common denominator and many of the City's data are in
those formats. The City of Toronto Catalog has ESRI shape files, those are
GIS files and there is no making those easier either. How does a city
decide on formats? Should they be releasing data in the way that they use
them in the formats used as part of a city's business processes or should they
re-format the data for the public?
Geogratis took the approach to release data as they use them. This
keeps their costs down by not adding any work load, it also keeps the data
accurate, as conversion can introduce errors in geomatics files. It also
means that users need to know how to work with those formats and do the
conversions themselves and bear the risk of errors as well.
The article is also a bit erroneous, as the Edmonton Catalog has many
formats that are difficult to use by lay people. Useful for those creating
mashups but not great for lay people.
So interesting that it brings up citizen use but not quite an accurate
picture.
--
Tracey P. Lauriault
613-234-2805
http://traceyplauriault.ca/
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